The invention relates generally to apparatus for use in rodeo events and, more particularly, to apparatus for timing the release of a calf in a calf roping event in a rodeo which assures that the calf is released the same distance from a rider every time.
Through the progression of the sport of rodeo it became obvious that timed-events involving cattle required that the animal be given a “head-start.” Beginning in 1950 and subsequently during the next fifty-plus years, various techniques were devised to give the animals in timed rodeo events (steer wrestling, team roping, steer tripping, and tie-down calf roping) a head start. All of these techniques originated from the idea that some type of barrier, for example, a rope, wand or electric eye, be placed at the front of a starting box containing the horse, and that barrier be released by some technique, for example, rope, lever or electric eye, when the animal to be chased reached a predetermined “head start” distance.
There was really no clear reason, other than established practice, why these types of techniques were utilized in various applications through the years. Unfortunately, in an era when most rodeo athletes compete at near par physically, the outcome of decades of utilization of these barrier techniques resulted in winners being determined by their ability to anticipate or navigate the “head-start.” In other words, those with a better mastery of the head-start technique could win more often than those with less mastery of the head-start technique. In the view of many, when a starting technique is more of a determining factor in winning than the athletic ability of the competitor, the purity of competition is lost. Therefore, a solution is needed.